Try your Best
by mischief martin
Summary: Sonic gets a sudden request from Mighty and Ray to help with a mission, but nobody is prepared for the events that follow. A slow burn Sonighty fic.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N : I've literally never published a fic before in my life so we'll see how this goes I guess...**

 **I have not found a single Sonighty fic... not one... and because of that I decided to make a long as hell slow burn fic for them. I have an outline but I'm mostly just going with the flow and what feels right. This is meant to take place in the Archie-verse, post-SGW but assuming all the stuff with Ray, Sonic, Mighty, and the Power Gem all happened the same. If you don't read the comics, you can still enjoy the story! There may be a few characters you're unfamiliar with, though.**

 **I'll be posting the first few chapters relatively close together (since I have them all mostly finished) and then I'll be posting the following chapters as I complete them.**

 **All rights reserved, I don't own anyone in this fic they all belong to Sega, etc etc.**

* * *

Mighty fiddled with the buckle on the cuff of his glove nervously. The sun had set long ago and Sonic was 20 minutes late for their meeting. He knew the hero of Mobius wasn't exactly the most punctual character, but this mission had him feeling particularly on edge. Ray had taken to resting his head on Mighty's shoulder, his eyes closed and his breathing rhythmic. Mighty was thankful to the young squirrel for the physical contact, as touch usually helped to keep him grounded when nervous.

"Am I going to have to start bringing Tails along just to compete with you two?"

Mighty saw a blur out of the corner of his eye as the hedgehog landed next to him, dusting off twigs and debris from his gloves and shoes. The armadillo sighed and rolled his shoulder to wake Ray up. He stood and turned on his ankle to face the visitor, arms crossed across his chest.

"You're late, blue. We were supposed to be on our way to the base by now." Mighty's expression was stern as he scanned Sonic. The hedgehog's quills were disheveled from his run through the jungle, and his shoes had dirt and mud caked around the soles.

Sonic ran a hand through his quills in embarrassment. "Honestly, Mighty? This place is hella hard to navigate… I mean a guy can only go through so many ravines before they start blending together."

"... You got lost? I thought I sent you guys coordinates before you left sky patrol?" Mighty raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"No yeah uh… I kinda ran into some trouble on the way here and…" The hedgehog held up his wrist to show his communicator, along with a pretty decently sized spike that was lodged in the center of its screen.

"Chaos, how the hell did that happen?" Mighty took a step forward and gingerly removed the communicator from Sonic's wrist. It was pretty heavy with the spike on it, even the blue blur himself would have trouble running with this thing attached to his arm. "You are one lucky hedgehog, any less sturdy and that spike would've cut your hand clean off!"

Sonic rubbed his sore wrist and chuckled before quickly changing the subject, "So my main point to all that was that the badniks really mean business today," Now it was his turn to raise an eyebrow to his friend. "What is it we're dealing with that you couldn't tell me through Nicole?"

Mighty turned his head and nodded to Ray, still rubbing sleep from his eyes. The sunny companion yawned and stood up, stammering out the situation while Mighty attempted to pull the spike out of what was once Sonic's communicator.

"About a w-week ago, w-we were attempting to intercept some signals b-b-between Eggman and Thunderbolt. The signals were almost imp-p-possible to decrypt, and w-we ended up g-getting caught on their servers m-m-more than once. But using some context clues w-w-we were able to f-figure out something!" Ray clapped his hands excitedly, "Y-you see, not too long before Thunderb-bolt started sending all those messages, a m-m-m-meteor crashed only a few miles away from Rocky Jungle, or s-s-so we thought!"

Mighty stepped up to Ray's side, tossing the spike behind him, impaling the trunk of a tree. "Thunderbolt has a Power Gem."

* * *

Sonic blinked a few times through the binoculars and spoke aloud: "Okay so that's e-110, plus several guys with what look like some really big guns amongst those with some regular but still decently sized ones, counting T.B. whose probably somewhere with her giant robo-suit, you really think we can take these guys with just the three of us?"

"That's just it, we can't." Mighty said, grabbing the binoculars and peering through to their target. "This isn't a loud mission. We don't need the power gem, we just need to know what they're doing with it." He passed the binoculars off to Ray, "They've been upping security over the past few days, but they probably think we still don't know they have it. The messages were encrypted enough that we only figured out what was going on because the energy readings Thunderbolt was sending Eggman looked familiar."

Sonic raised his hand to his face and pressed a finger to his chin as he looked over the base from a distance. It looked different than the last time he was here. The quarry walls were lined with mining badniks, and the Egg Army soldiers stationed there were placed in a sort of hexagonal pattern around the main building. "Mighty, you know I'm not really the sneaky type. What do you guys even need me for here?"

"M-Mighty and I have been causing Thunderbolt t-trouble for the past few w-w-weeks by ourselves." Ray piped up from behind the binoculars.

Mighty continued "If they do expect an attack from us, they'll just be expecting me and Ray. You're our trump-card, Sonic." Mighty gave the hedgehog a gentle (by Mighty standards) punch to the shoulder, "If we do manage to get a hold of the power gem we're going to need a quick getaway. Not only that but they're not going to expect a visit from _the_ Sonic the hedgehog, not as long as the world isn't in immediate peril."

Sonic felt a bit of a boost in his pride, it was true that he hadn't paid the Soumerca Egg Army a visit since the world had become whole again. He could really grind Egg-head's gears if they managed to pull this off without getting caught. Mighty must have noticed the smirk grow on his face because he grabbed Sonic's shoulder and immediately followed his statement, "Sonic, remember this is an espionage mission, we're not-"

Sonic interrupted "Yeah, yeah, info first, glowing energy stone second. I got this, big man, don't worry about me." He gave a thumbs up and an enthusiastic wink.

Mighty smiled warmly before Ray chimed in once again, "Thunderbolt just came out of the m-main construct to the east, outside the quarry. I th-think that's where they're k-keeping it." He pointed a gloved hand to the largest of the buildings in the quarry.

Sonic tugged up on the cuff of his socks with a grin. "Then that's where we're headed. Try to keep up, Mighty."

Mighty turned to the young flyer "Ray, keep watch, I don't want you going anywhere near the power gem. Beep my comm. three times if you see anything and we'll head right back."

The two moved back into the underbrush and made their way around the perimeter of the quarry. Mighty kept a map with him, marking areas where they found large pieces of debris from the now defunct mining project.

A thought crossed Sonic's mind. "So if the chaos emerald mining is kaput, what's with all the mining badniks?" He asked just above a whisper. "I mean, what else is there to find?"

There was silence for a few moments before Mighty whispered "I'm not sure, but maybe they're just digging for whatever they can find at this point. Moss says nobody's ever tried digging around here before, says it's too far out from any cities for someone to try."

He marked another piece of large debris on his map. Once they reached the opposite side of the quarry the east building came into view. It was huge, a giant metal construct shaped like the top half of a missile, the logo of the Egg Army plastered on all sides. Sonic chuckled a bit at the visual of Eggman's big, grinning face staring down at him.

Mighty pressed a hand to the communicator in his ear, "We're going in, Ray."

"Let's make some noise."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Second chapter I'm posting right off the bat, since I worked on them as if they were one thing initially before deciding to split them into two chapters.**

 **Tried to write some action-y scenes, not really something I consider myself good at but they were fun to try! Considering what I have planned I'm going to have to get used to it...**

* * *

The inside of the building was standard Egg Army aesthetic. Grey metal hallways with the occasional glowing red light.

"Any idea where we're headed?"

Mighty held his arms up defensively "The whole sensing treasure thing is more Knuckles, I tend to just…"

"Run around until we get lucky?" Sonic winked.

Mighty blushed a little, "I'm sure we'll come across it eventually."

Sonic stopped abruptly and held his arm out, signalling Mighty to stop. "Maybe sooner than we thought."

Mighty took a glance past the hedgehog and saw the walls reflecting a faint green light. He swallowed hard at the sight of the familiar eerie glow. A lump formed in his throat, he wanted it destroyed, the source of his suffering all those years ago, the thing that stranded him in space and took Ray from him for 6 years, he could practically feel its power resonating around him. It wasn't until he felt Sonic's hand on his shoulder that Mighty realized he'd been clenching his fist.

"Easy, big guy. We'll be outta here soon but I need you with me right now."

Mighty brought his fingertips together and exhaled. "I'm fine, let's go." The two pushed forward down the hallway, treading lightly and following the faint glow.

After a few minutes of walking they saw, a few yards ahead, an open doorway to a large room, the glow's source. A single guard stood at the entry, his back bathed in green light. Mighty looked back and met Sonic's eyes with a smirk. The blue blur practically vanished in a flurry, knocking out the single guard. Mighty moved to the other side of the doorway, peering in carefully.

Several guards and engineers clad in Egg Army uniforms huddled around a large table where the glow was most concentrated. It was hard to see, but there appeared to be something else on the table with the gem. Mighty heard a soft three beeps from his communicator. He gave a glance to Sonic, who was trying to get a look around the mobians in the room.

"Sonic, something's up, we need to go." Mighty whispered as loudly as he could.

"Mighty I think they have-"

Suddenly Mighty felt and heard a loud crash behind him. Before he could turn he felt a powerful force slam into his back. He heard Sonic yell something indecipherable, as the armadillo went flying into the room, scattering the Egg Army soldiers inside. He rolled into a ball and tried his best to turn around as he skid across the floor. Uncurling himself his eyes quickly glanced around the room, Sonic had rushed into the room to evade another attack, Egg Army soldiers were standing huddled in corners with dumbfounded looks on their faces, and at the far edge, standing by the entryway, a giant mech loomed bathed in green light.

Mighty's lips curled into a snarl, his posture hunched and menacing. Sonic had rushed on top of a table covered in tools nearby, hand on his hip and a finger perched above his smirk. "T.B.! Jeeze aren't you a sight for sore eyes. How long has it been, 6 months? You'll be happy to know I can't turn into a hairy beast anymore!"

Mighty saw the small silhouette inside the mech bristle with rage. He didn't need a clear visual of the tiny Egg Boss to know that there was probably crazy amounts of static coursing through her fur.

Her squeaky voice came at them full blast across the room. "YOU INSOLENT RODENTS HAVE BEEN A THORN IN LORD EGGMAN'S SIDE FOR LONG ENOUGH! TODAY YOU WILL DIE AT THE HANDS OF THUNDERBOLT!"

Sparks danced across the metal seams in Thunderbolt's armor, and Mighty raised his fists into position, but hesitated at the sound of Sonic clicking his tongue cockily. He turned and saw the hedgehog wagging his finger in sarcastic disapproval. "Really, T.B., you should know better than to pick fights in closed quarters. What if you hurt the doctor's favorite toy?" He gestured dramatically to the table in the center of the room. Mighty's eyes quickly shifted over to the pile of metal, his eyes adjusting to the green light. It took him a bit to recognize the wrecked robot, but as he was opened his mouth to wonder aloud Thunderbolt interrupted him with a burst of shrill laughter.

"YOU THINK THAT JUST BECAUSE IT'S STATIONARY IT CAN'T DO ITS JOB?" Thunderbolt's silhouette raised a hand and dramatically brought it down onto an unseen button inside her mech.

Just then the glow of the gem became stronger, as the pile of metal on the table whirred to life. It was in sorry shape to be sure, bright blue metal plating sagging and scorched, limbs bent in wrong directions, wiring exposed, but the very sight of it shook Mighty.

Metal Sonic, a power gem shoved into its core, hovered into view.

* * *

Sonic dodged the robot as it hurtled towards him, feet skidding against the metal floor. He nimbly rolled to the side to dodge another tackle by the robot. His doppelganger's speed was not at its peak, but the close quarters of the room meant neither was his.

He leapt to grab a dangling cord from the ceiling and hoisted himself up. Metal Sonic shot up to the same height and tried to slam its body into him. Sonic leapt towards it at the same time, his feet slamming into the robot's forehead, and then pushed off with as much force as he could. Metal Sonic went flying into the opposite wall, creating a dent in the concrete.

Sonic landed on the ground and tried to quickly get a hold of his surroundings before Metal recovered. He saw Mighty on the opposite side of the room, toe to toe with Thunderbolt. They were stuck in a challenge of power, their hands raised and pushing the other's, and their stances set wide. Mighty's teeth gritted at the exertion, and Thunderbolt's mech hands were crunching under the pressure from the armadillo's grip. Sonic heard the sound of creaking metal and he turned to face Metal Sonic again. The robot was in sorry shape from just those few seconds they had scrapped, there was no way he'd hold out much longer.

Sonic dashed across the room to where Thunderbolt and Mighty were. He skidded to a halt and called out to Mighty. The other's ears perked and he quickly balled up his hands into fists, crushing the hands of Thunderbolt's mech, and launched himself into the air with as much force as he could. Sonic slid between Thunderbolt's legs, making sure to click his tongue and throw some finger guns her way, and Metal Sonic crashed into her. Mighty landed ungracefully next to Sonic, but had little time to catch his balance as Sonic grabbed his wrist and bolted out of the room.

Mighty put a finger to his ear piece, shouting between gasps for air "Ray, start heading back to the meeting spot, we'll catch up."

The two ran as fast as they could out of the building and into the jungle. Sonic held his arm out in front of him to keep any brush from hitting him in the face as he ran. He lost all sense of time or direction.

Sonic felt Mighty's hand squeeze his tightly. He winced and slowed his pace a bit, glancing back at Mighty questioningly. The armadillo's face was red with exhaustion and his breath was coming out in ragged breaths. Sonic slowed their pace to a stop and released his grip on his friend and pressed his thumb into his now sore palm. Mighty practically fell over onto himself, his hands gripped his knees tightly as he tried to gasp back some of the wind he had lost in the run. Sonic turned and walked past Mighty, looking into the jungle for any signs that they were followed.

"Not… everyone… can keep up… with you…" Mighty exclaimed between pained, wheezing breaths. Sonic kept staring into the jungle behind them, the light of the moon barely enough to catch the movement of the leaves on the trees.

"Do you think they'd come looking for us?" Sonic eventually wondered aloud.

Mighty fell back onto the ground and crossed his legs. "Hopefully not, I don't know if I'd be able to run from them if they did." He reached into his boot and pulled out his folded up map. Looking around, he tried to get a basic idea of where they were.

"Don't tell me I got us lost after only a few minutes of running."

Mighty scoffed and puffed his chest out exaggeratedly, "Lost? Please. I've been training under master Moss, Sonic. Ray and I can navigate this jungle no problem." Mighty made a few small marks on his map between glances at the canopy. He raised a hand to his earpiece and spoke, "Ray, you there? ...Yeah we're okay. Our coordinates…"

Sonic's mind trailed off as Mighty spoke to Ray. The robot was definitely Metal Sonic, he'd recognize that emotionless death stare anywhere, but there was something wrong. He last saw Metal several months ago during the shattered world crisis, leaving him a little banged up but not to that extent. And for that matter what was up with the power gem core? It was almost like that Metal had been fresh out of the fires of Mt. Mobius, melted down to almost scrap and carrying a power gem in his chest. The whole thing made Sonic's head hurt. Just what the hell was going on…

A distant sound made the hedgehog's ears perk to attention. He took a few steps forward and scanned the jungle, eyes flicking from distant tree to tree. It was faint, but he thought he could see an ambient glow in the distance. His feet moved almost faster than his voice.

"Mighty, get down!"

Sonic leaped backwards and shoved his friend to the ground as a huge green beam of energy shot at them. Sonic felt the heat just barely singe the fur of his arm. He jumped back to his feet and ran head first into the jungle.

"Sonic, wait!"

Mighty's call wasn't far away, as Sonic found Metal almost immediately. "Back for more, handsome?" He called out, "Gotta say, for a _completely obliterated_ badnik, you sure are tenacious!"

The robot wasted no time in lunging straight for him. The speed he managed to muster was surprising, though no doubt it was related to the green gem he held. Sonic felt almost bad taking on his doppelganger in such a sorry state. Despite his speed, Metal wasn't nearly enough of a threat to give Sonic much concern. He dodged the robot's blows easily and with grace.

"Sorry, bolts-for-brains, but now that we're out in the open you can't even touch me."

The blue hedgehog gave the robot a half-hearted jab to the chest before spinning around to his back and knocking him down with a small kick. Metal attempted to jitter back to his feet, but was having trouble doing so. His movements were short and sporadic and didn't flow into each other. Sonic felt a mix of pity and disgust, as the site of his long time rival twitching in the dirt was more than a little creepy to him.

As he was about to run back to Mighty, he felt a cold grip on his ankle. Looking down, Sonic saw Metal's hand curled tightly around his leg. "C'mon, dude, be a good sport and know when you've lost." He attempted to yank free to no avail. Metal's grip tightened at the resistance, his steel fingers were starting to dig into Sonic's skin.

Sonic winced in pain and tried again to remove his leg from Metal's grasp. "Mighty? I could use some help over here!"

He heard the red armadillo's voice not too far off, "Sonic! We can't wander around here anymore, the cliffs in this area are prone to landslides!"

Sonic rolled his eyes and yelled back "Yeah I'd love to head back and get some sleep but I seem to have some unwelcome cargo attached to my leg right now!"

Mighty's face appeared through the brush and Sonic sighed with relief and shook his leg dramatically "Great, now help me get this jerk off of-"

The ground moved beneath him.

Sonic felt his heart leap into his throat at the realization of what Metal was doing.

Suddenly there was nothing below his feet but mud and water.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Happy Valentine's, y'all. Planning on getting two chapters done this week (after months of nothing yes i know) in the spirit of the season. Look forward to it and let me know what you think!**

* * *

His eyes did manage to flutter open at one point, but everything was so blurry he had no idea where he was. His body felt weightless and a breeze was hitting the side of his face. To one side he heard a faint thumping noise, and felt warmth when he moved his head closer to it. He could hear someone talking somewhere, but everything sounded so distorted and quiet, it was hard to make out more than a few words.

"Ray… robot… Sonic… hurt… help…"

Trying to listen made his head hurt. His eyelids felt so heavy, and his vision went dark again.

* * *

Sonic's eyes shot open and immediately shut again in response to the bright sun assaulting his eyes. He raised an arm to block the light and he felt a sudden pain course through his body, like pins and needles all along his spine. He lifted his head a bit to get a look at his body, he was covered in a heavy blanket but still felt incredibly cold. His pillow felt damp, but he couldn't feel any sweat on his head or neck.

"H-hey… anyone around?" An attempt at calling out revealed his voice to be raspy and quiet. He mumbled a curse and took a deep breath, opening his mouth to try again. Just then a bright yellow blur stumbled through the door to his room. He craned his neck to try and see the visitor on the floor, but he stood up just as fast as he had fallen. Ray gave him a look of disbelief, his mouth gaping open.

"Yo, Ray. How's it hangin'? Listen could you do me a favor and-"

"M-M-M-MIGHTY! SONIC IS AWAKE!" The younger boy shouted as he ran back outside.

"Or… ya know I guess that works too…"

Sonic's head sank back into his pillow and he shut his eyes tightly, his entire body was stunned with pain. His head throbbed and the backs of his eyes felt sore, he could hardly move his arms or torso because his back hurt so damn much, and he could barely feel his legs at all. He scoured his memory for something, _anything_ that indicated what happened.

The sound of loud steps running up the deck staircase broke his concentration, he turned his head as the door slammed open and Mighty stood in the doorway, his expression mirroring the one Ray had worn moments earlier.

"'Sup, buddy? Any chance I could get a rundown of what exactly is going on?"

Mighty visibly relaxed at Sonic's calm demeanor. His expression softened and a warm smile even teased at the corners of his mouth. "A lot happened, Sonic…" The armadillo sighed and sat himself down on the edge of the bed, it swayed gently, "How much do you remember?"

Sonic screwed up his face in exaggerated thought before answering "Last thing I remember, I was fighting Metal, and winning, and he had grabbed my ankle…" He closed his eyes tightly in focus, "Then… the ground went out from under me… I think I blacked out."

Mighty nodded, "There was a landslide, it took me an hour or two to find you afterwards." His fists gripped the blanket so tightly, Sonic thought he might tear holes in the fabric. "You… were hurt pretty bad. Several fractures, concussion, you were practically unresponsive for days-"

Sonic's eyes widened at that "Wait, _days_?" He shot up in his bed and a jolt of pain shocked through him, making his body tense up and a surprised noise escape him.

"Sonic!" Mighty gripped his friend by the shoulders, his hands stable and warm, and gently pushed him back "Yes, days, which means your body is probably still under a lot of stress."

Sonic swatted away Mighty's hands from his shoulders and sat back up, more slowly this time. "I need to get in contact with Sky Patrol"

"I've been in contact with the princess, our communications tech is a little lacking but it gets the job done. She knows about what happened."

Sonic hesitated just a second before speaking up again "I need to talk to her myself… how soon can you make that happen?"

Mighty sighed and stood from his spot on the bed. "Not soon enough for you, I'm guessing."

* * *

It took at least an hour for Mighty and Ray to set up the comm. system. Neither of them were engineers, and getting a signal in the middle of the jungle was hell already, not to mention it was the middle of the day and the heat from the sun along with the humidity made working outside almost unbearable. By the time they were back inside, Moss had managed to get Sonic sat up in a way that wasn't too uncomfortable for him, and also got him some hot herbal tea and set a video communicator on his lap. Moss himself was sitting on his small grass cushion near the fire pit, sipping tea from a small wooden cup. Mighty felt calm at just the sight of his mentor, he was always a pillar of tranquility in Mighty's increasingly chaotic life.

Without opening his eyes the sloth spoke "I assume you've gotten things set up for our call with the Princess?"

Mighty gave a quick bow to Moss "Yes, sir, our setup should be stable for at least an hour."

"An _hour?_ Let's hope Sal doesn't talk my ear off, then."

Mighty's attention turned to Sonic, who was staring forlornly into his own wooden cup. A quick pang of sadness hit Mighty, but he quickly brushed it aside, they'd need to call the Princess quickly before the unpredictable jungle weather rendered all of their work obsolete.

He grabbed a wooden chair from the center of the room and set it next to the bed. Sonic nodded and let out a small sigh before handing Mighty his cup of tea and pressing a few buttons on the tablet in front of him. There was a sound of confirmation, then the screen went blue and a soft repeating tone began to play. Another ding and the blue screen quickly changed to a familiar green, a small cartoon symbol of a Lynx placed in the center.

Sonic had barely opened his mouth when a slightly distorted voice spoke up in surprise. "Sonic the Hedgehog! Thank goodness you're okay!"

"H-hey, Nicole. Yeah I'm alright."

"Sally has been worried sick about you. I can tell you're connection is weak so I'll put her on right away."

"Thanks, Nicole…"

There was a brief period of silence, the hedgehog's shoulders were tense, and his grip on the tablet turned his peach knuckles white. Mighty's hand reached out to touch his friend's shoulder, but a beeping noise on the tablet caught his attention.

The interior of Sky Patrol appeared on the screen, along with some very concerned and surprised faces.

"Sonic!"

A short yellow fox stood up from his seat at the table, his eyes wide and shimmering. He ran closer to the screen, practically toppling over several people in the process. "Sonic you're okay! You're alive, you…" tears began to well up in his clear blue eyes, he sniffed loudly and dug his face into his elbow. An older mobian walked up next to him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, though her eyes were beginning to look a little wet as well.

"Tails I'm… yeah I'm okay, don't you worry." Sonic's eyes looked tired, but happy as well.

The older mobian wiped her own eyes quickly before speaking, even when crying her face held a determination unlike any other.

"We're all glad you're safe, Sonic. Mighty told me everything that happened-"

"You mean like how we gave T.B. hell and found out they're holding a power gem _and_ a creepy half-built metal-me in that base?" Sonic's eyes narrowed and he grinned with smug satisfaction.

Sally looked back unamused, leaning forward and placing her hands on her hips. "I more meant how you _carelessly_ ran off after a super badnik against his word and got yourself hurt because of it."

Sonic recoiled a bit at the scolding, his smirk weakening under the Princess's sharp glare. "Hey, Sal, it's all good, right? I mean I'm still kickin', metaphorically speaking. I can head up to Sky Patrol, take a few days to rest up, be good as new and then…" He punched his fist into his other palm dramatically, though most likely with less force than he had intended, "We hit T.B. where it hurts!"

A silence washed over everybody, Mighty felt his hand tighten into a fist again. He and Sally had talked about this together while Sonic was out, and he knew the hedgehog wouldn't like the conclusion they came to.

"Sonic… we…"

"Until you're fully healed, you can't return to Sky Patrol." The princess interrupted.

Things were silent for a long time, Mighty could feel Sonic's entire body tense up next to him and hear his breathing hitch.

"Wh… why?"

The princess sighed with exasperation. "Sonic you _know_ why." Her expression had softened, "You have 3 broken ribs and a fractured pelvis. If you're on Sky Patrol... you're not going to want to stay still as long as the other freedom fighters are going on missions and…" Sally let out another sigh "...and to be honest I need someone around you who can make sure you won't try anything stupid."

Sonic's head snapped around and his glare hit Mighty dead on. The armadillo flinched a bit at the daggers being thrown his way, and tried to return an apologetic glance.

"So basically I'm useless and you don't want me to hurt myself." Sonic snapped back at Sally resentfully, "Thanks for the confidence, Sal."

Sally pinched the bridge of her nose with frustration, "This conversation is over, you're not coming back to Sky Patrol until you've recovered, end of discussion."

"Sally!"

The screen flashed _END TRANSMISSION_ before Sonic could say anything else. He made a frustrated grunt and threw the tablet down on his lap with enough force to make him wince (though he tried to hide it). Mighty tried to reach for his friends shoulder again, but Sonic swatted him away angrily, once again glaring those sharp green daggers at him. "So you _agree_ with her, I'm guessing?" The resentment in his tone was enough to make mighty flinch. Mighty withdrew his hand, he'd never seen Sonic like this before, not without the influence of dark gaia energy at least.

"I'm… I'm sorry, Sonic." Sonic shoved the tablet into his hands and pushed on the bed, trying to prop himself up. Mighty scrambled to grab his shoulders, dropping the screen in the process. "Stop!" He said, half panicking. "Sonic calm down." He blurted out. Sonic struggled trying to escape Mighty's grip.

"Dammit, let me go!" He bared his teeth and growled, "I'm going to-"

"No, you're not." Mighty's voice hardened as he adjusted himself over sonic, shifting his legs to either side of the hedgehog's body and shoving him back onto the bed. "I will sit here and hold you down for weeks if I have to, you're not moving from this bed until you've healed."

But Sonic continued to struggle, if he hadn't been as tired and injured as he was Mighty didn't doubt he would've gone on like that for hours. Still, he must have sat like that for at least 30 minutes waiting for Sonic to wear himself out and finally rest his head back on the pillow, panting from the exertion. "You done?"

Sonic growled again and shifted himself under Mighty's grip "You're hurting my shoulders there, big guy." He said with a straight face. Mighty released his friend, feeling pang of guilt when he saw the red marks he had left.

"Sorry."

"Pff, no you aren't."

Mighty looked at Sonic, surprised at the teasing tone he took so quickly. Sonic's smirk was more sardonic than joking, but Mighty's heart lightened a little just seeing him smile. "Now get off of me, jerk."


End file.
